Looking for a pH meter

my fave...

Amazon: HMD PH-200 Digital Professional Waterproof 0-14 PH & Temperature Meter

1666925093578.png


I like it much more than my Bluelab. It takes longer to get a stable reading but is much more accurate and you can see it updating as it has an extra digit. The Bluelab one you don't realize is not done settling and can easily read it wrong.
 
Pretty much any pH-meter will do, even the very cheap ones, just calibrate every 7-14 days and rinse with the solution before calibrating.
With most meters it take time to settle in the value and it's important to shake the meter around in the solution.

It's a good idea to store the meter in a saline solution, there is a market standard storage solution, but sea water, dirty brackish water or buffer pH 4 will do.

Never rinse your meter in demineralized/distilled water - it'll wear out the probe faster - probes last 1-4 years depending on usage/storage.
 
PurpleGunRack- I've been meaning to look you up for a while now. I'm pretty sure it was you, in some thread or other, you posted a comment about how the ph storage solutions are pretty much just salt water.
Could you post more about this?
My understanding is that KCl solution is the most common one used. As far as I could figure out with my meter- it's a saturated KCl solution (maximum strength that will dissolve- in case someone doesn't know what I mean by saturated). My very unscientific test of the storage solution I have came up with something like 290,000 ppm. Almost 30% dissolved KCl, or whatever it is.
I have a Bluelab meter. The Bluelab website has some talk of their 'specially designed ph probe storage solution'. I searched all over the place to find some in Canada. Eventually some came up on amazon.
$90 for 100ml (!!!!!!!) -before tax and shipping.
There was some Hanna brand solution out there for much cheaper so I emailed Bluelab about the situation and they said it would be 'ok' to use a different brand.
Ph has been my biggest nemesis when it comes to growing. And most of my ph pens died after drying out. It's always been my understanding that plain water is a probe killer. Can you provide more info on what is at work here, and what I can and can't get away with?
Thanks in advance :thumb:
 
Weaselcracker said:
PurpleGunRack- I've been meaning to look you up for a while now. I'm pretty sure it was you, in some thread or other, you posted a comment about how the ph storage solutions are pretty much just salt water.
Could you post more about this?
My understanding is that KCl solution is the most common one used. As far as I could figure out with my meter- it's a saturated KCl solution (maximum strength that will dissolve- in case someone doesn't know what I mean by saturated). My very unscientific test of the storage solution I have came up with something like 290,000 ppm. Almost 30% dissolved KCl, or whatever it is.
I have a Bluelab meter. The Bluelab website has some talk of their 'specially designed ph probe storage solution'. I searched all over the place to find some in Canada. Eventually some came up on amazon.
$90 for 100ml (!!!!!!!) -before tax and shipping.
There was some Hanna brand solution out there for much cheaper so I emailed Bluelab about the situation and they said it would be 'ok' to use a different brand.
Ph has been my biggest nemesis when it comes to growing. And most of my ph pens died after drying out. It's always been my understanding that plain water is a probe killer. Can you provide more info on what is at work here, and what I can and can't get away with?
Thanks in advance :thumb:
Click to expand...

Hi weasel

This is the thread I posted in:

What is pH?


Yes, you should not store the probe in plain water or buffer pH 7.
The standard solution is KCl (Potassium Chloride) 3mol/l,
I use KCl PRO from GiB (I think it's a german company) I picked some up at my local grow shop for ~12USD for 300ml
It's also a standard in the medical world for all sorts of meters.
You should be able to find it cheaper than 90USD for 100ml on ebay or a medical supply shop or growshop.
I saw the bluelab one on ebay for about 10USD for 100ml + shipping(from US)

:Namaste:
 
PurpleGunRack said:
Yes, you should not store the probe in plain water or buffer pH 7.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that link...I have some reading to do.

I have the Bluelab meter with replaceable probe and I've only started getting serious about my pH readings over the past year. When I went looking for storage solution, the guy at the grow store said to just store it in pH 7 calibration solution. I store the meter on a rack on my peg board, and the probe in a test tube of the pH 7 calibration solution. Is this wrong? Is buffer solution and calibration solution different things?
 
Guano said:
Thanks for that link...I have some reading to do.

I have the Bluelab meter with replaceable probe and I've only started getting serious about my pH readings over the past year. When I went looking for storage solution, the guy at the grow store said to just store it in pH 7 calibration solution. I store the meter on a rack on my peg board, and the probe in a test tube of the pH 7 calibration solution. Is this wrong? Is buffer solution and calibration solution different things?
Click to expand...

My post is on the last page of the thread and here I outlined a quick pH-meter guide, just read that post and you'll get the basics.

Buffer solution is calibration solution(some people just call it calibration soulution because that's what you use it for).
Don't store your probe in the one that's pH 7 it'll significantly shrten the lifespan of your probe - Which means it will drift more and faster and you'll have to calibrate more often and at some point it drifts right after calibration and becomes useless.
Use the solution that's pH 4 or storage solution, but really anything, except deminaralised water, is better than buffer solution pH 7.
 
Thanks man. I'll go re-read that post. I'm not so sure that I can order from the US. A lot of liquids won't ship. And when they do I have crazy wait times, high shipping rates, and border fees on top of everything else. I'll look into getting pure KCl and making the solution myself, if I am sure that's all that is in it. I also used ph7 solution in the past, as I was told to.
 
Weaselcracker said:
Thanks man. I'll go re-read that post. I'm not so sure that I can order from the US. A lot of liquids won't ship. And when they do I have crazy wait times, high shipping rates, and border fees on top of everything else. I'll look into getting pure KCl and making the solution myself, if I am sure that's all that is in it. I also used ph7 solution in the past, as I was told to.
Click to expand...

You can make it yourself if you can get a hold of pure KCl - I think it's ~223g KCl and add water until you have 1 L in total, but check up on it;)

You can order from Germany too, might be steep on shipping but it's 9 euro for 300 ml.

Many growshop guys are friendly and helpful, but not always as knowledgeable as they seem - one of my local guys told me it wasn't possible to grow with LED last summer(2015), now he stocks LED lights...
 
i,ve had the most luck with the blue lab pen,bought some kci solution,buffer4 and 7, follow the instructions and have had it for 2yrs,so far so good.backed up with some litmus paper :)
 
Back
Top Bottom